Eye-catching article in today’s Times about the State Department, CIA, and other interesting bits of the U.S. government funding African troops in Somalia, in part via a private U.S. company located over on Embassy Row, one of the swankiest parts of Washington, DC. Seems the U.S. doesn’t want any reminders of the Black Hawk Down incident, so, instead of sending overt U.S. forces, is relying on undercover CIA types, plus funneling money to the U.S. company through the governments of Uganda and Burundi. The money ostensibly goes to train and equip Somali commandos and, given the recent withdrawal by the Shabab from Mogadishu, may actually be working.
Read this story in conjunction with the book Licensed to Kill, by Robert Pelton, for a close-up look at some of the more interesting, underground, and occasionally successful aspects of U.S. foreign policy.